bopper:
Maybe you could send them an earlier copy and get their buy in earlier in the process.

Maybe you could say that this design keeps in mind the corporate standards, industry guidelines on spacing,

delabela:
I think this is just part of customer service. It's reasonable for a client to want to see why something they wanted doesn't work. If I am getting a service/product that I am unfamiliar with, I tend to want to understand why something is the way it is rather than just be told "this is how this has to be." I am completely unfamiliar with graphic design, so I would probably ask a lot of questions about your work. It's not that I don't believe you know what you're doing, it's just that I like to understand why something is a certain way in (which helps with any adjustments I might need to make, or planning for future projects).

So I think you do have to have an explanation that is more than "I know what I'm doing" - maybe, as a previous poster stated, have a couple of examples ready, or offer a more complete explanation.

Amara:
Could you print out, in B&W and on cheap paper, copies of things you tried that didn't work before you delete or change them? Then keep them in a folder until the client accepts the best design? That way you'd have them and can show them? If not on paper, how about keeping various digital versions in a "rejected designs for client X" desktop folder?

TomatoBunny:
I don't know, if she shows rejected/impossible designs, then what's to stop the client from saying "No no, Rejected Design 2 looks better than Acceptable Design 1. Change it to that." and starting a whole "well, just make it work!" discussion/argument from there? :-\

If acceptable alternatives exist, then sure, maybe they should be shown, but it sounds more like there's really only the one way to get everything on the page with fitting with contents and standards.

jpcher:
That's an excellent thought, Amara. In fact, I normally do that with other pieces that I work on.

With things other than the magazine, we often present several design choices to the customer.

However, with the magazine, it's pretty much set in stone once I'm done with the layout. It's very rare when there is a requested change for the page-layout itself, so I don't bother saving versions that I have rejected.

--- Quote from: TomatoBunny on August 25, 2013, 03:56:43 AM ---I don't know, if she shows rejected/impossible designs, then what's to stop the client from saying "No no, Rejected Design 2 looks better than Acceptable Design 1. Change it to that." and starting a whole "well, just make it work!" discussion/argument from there? :-\

If acceptable alternatives exist, then sure, maybe they should be shown, but it sounds more like there's really only the one way to get everything on the page with fitting with contents and standards.

--- End quote ---

TomatoBunny -- you are spot on with this response.

The magazine does go through an extensive approval process which does not include the authors. Author's must approve the content (text, photos, artwork, etc.) before it even gets to me.

I think that's what irritated me about this particular instance. I created 3 designs of branding artwork that would accompany his article every time it's published. I put my preferred choice with the article, sent him that along with the 2 other designs asking him to critique/suggest changes or approve whichever design he liked best.

He absolutely loved my preferred artwork design (one minor change) then went into the page-layout itself . . . maybe I should have sent him the 3 designs alone, without the article attached. :-\

PastryGoddess -- I completely understand your viewpoint. I am not unsympathetic to customers requests at all. I agree that a customer's understanding of why something is done in this particular way is very important.

Yes. I do talk to customers early on in the planning stage in order to get their feel/thoughts for the project (I did talk to Author before designing the artwork, not the layout.)

So long as the customer is amenable to the professional's explanation I do not have a problem taking the time to explaining the reason why the design was done or should be done this way as opposed to what they waaaaant.